Heater



April 9, 1941. E. G. IFERNHOLTZ 2,240,367

- HEATER Filed April 8, 1939 IN VEN TOR.

l G- E rn/101;;

39 ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 29, 1941 iJNlTED STATES s'rsr FFICE HEATER Application April 8, 1939, Serial No. 266,789

3 Claims.

more particularly to a heater for burning a .solid fuel.

A main object of my invention is to provide .a heater that maybe readily dismantled into a small compact form and which may be readily assembled when it is desired to use the same.

Another and also important object is to provide a heater construction in which any number of its elements may be quickly removed and replaced without dismantling the entire heater should they become damaged or unfitted for further use.

Still another object is to provide a heater for solid fuel which is of inexpensive construction, strong and durable, and which will burn the fuel with efiiciency with a minimum of smoke and soot.

I accomplish the above and other objects by means of the heater described in the following specification, reference being had to the appended drawing forming a par-t thereof, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an assembled heater.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional detail of the heater taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail elevation of one of the heaters corner posts, taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows thereon.

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional detail of the removable heater bottom, taken on line 44 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a perspective detail of a modified form of corner post.

Fig. 6 is a sectional plan view of a pair of oppositely disposed corner posts, illustrating a modified form of rod support.

Referring now specifically to the drawing, especiallyFig. 1, the heater l0, comprises four vertically disposed corner posts H, l2, l3 and I4 preferably formed of sheet metal U-shaped in cross section and rigidly secured together in substantially rectangular formation by bolt rods I5, I 6, I! and I8, each rod being headed on one end and threaded on its other end for the reception of a nut.

Each of the legs 19 of the corner posts are provided with angular slots 20 equally spaced apart, each slot consisting of a horizontal portion 2| and a vertical portion 22, the uppermost slots 23 being vertically disposed. Mounted in the vertical portions 22 of the angular slots of the corner posts are a plurality of'rods 25 that extend between posts II and I2 and I3 and [4, the ends of which contact the inner faces 21 of the legs and are seated in the slots 20 and also support a plurality of rods 28 and 29 disposed at right angles thereto. Rods 28 extend between posts l3 and I4 while rods 29 extend between posts H and I2, as clearly shown in the various views of the drawing which together with the rods 25 form the sides of the heater.

The botom 30 of the heater is of grid form and preferably formed of a plurality of rods 3| equally spaced apart, the ends of said rods resting in semi-cylindrical seats 32 of a metal strip 33 and retained by bolts 35 passing through a metal strip of sheet metal 34 disposed over the rods 3| securely holding the rods in immovable relation to each other and permitting the bottom to be removed when it is desired to replace any of the rods that may have become damaged by the fire, or otherwise.

In Fig. 5 a modified form is shown in which tongues 31 are die stamped from the corner post legs 38, which in this case are of right angled formation, the tongues 31 forming seats for the K removable rods that form the sides of the heater as in the form first described.

From the above it will be seen that I have provided a heater for solid fuel that is extremely light and strong in construction in which any of the horizontally disposed rods forming the vertical sides of the heater are quickly replaceable when injured or damaged by the heat, without dismantling the heater and that the grid bottom can be removed as a unit by means of the handle pull 40.

In Fig. 6 I have shown a modified form of rod supports, in which the angular slots 20 formed in the corner posts l2 and I4 are replaced by slots 39 formed in the legs of corner posts l2 and la, the rods 25 passing through the slots formed in outer legs of posts H and I2.

As the entire heater is composed of individually detachable elements it will be apparent that a large number of heaters may be transported to their place of use at a minimum of expense where they may readily be assembled. Further when the weather becomes settled the heaters may be dismantled and their elements may be tied in bundles and disposed adjacent the fruit trees for further use.

Although I have described heaters for use in connection with citrus fruit, it will be apparent they may be successfully employed in connection with all growing crops that are liable to frost affection.

The solid fuel designed to be used with the heater, may be of briquette form, such as coal, coke, lignite or similar combustible material. Such material is designed to be furnished the user in bag form to insure easy transportation to the heaters in the groves. Further by providing bags for the fuel a saving in fuel may be efiected, as the bags may be filled with the exact amount of fuel required to fill the heaters.

An important economic advantage of my invention resides in the fact that a grower will only be put to an initial expense, any burnt or damaged parts being quickly removed and replaced at small expense.

It will be apparent that my invention provides an orchard heater which will be extremely effective and eflicient in use, and one that may be maintained in properly efiective condition with little expense and trouble.

I claim:

f 1. An" orchard heater comprising a plurality of channeled corner posts arranged in rectangular formation, bolt rods detachably securing said posts together, one leg of each of said channeled posts having a plurality of angular slots therein, rods removably mounted in the slots in said posts and forming a pair of sides walls of said heater, other rods disposed in the channels of said posts and supported by the rods mounted in the slots of said posts and forming a pair of side walls, and a fuel supporting bottom removably mounted on a, pair of the lowermost oppositely disposed side wall rods.

2. An orchard heater comprising a plurality of channeled corner posts detachably secured together and arranged in rectangular formation, one leg of each of said channel posts having a, plurality of slots therein, rods extending between and engaging the slots in said posts, rods mounted in the channels of said posts and disposed at right angles to and resting on said first mentioned rods, all of said rods forming the heater side walls, and a fuel supporting bottom supported on a pair of the lowermost side wall rods.

3. An orchard heater comprising a plurality of channeled corner posts secured together in rectangular relation, one leg of each of said posts having a plurality of slots, rods engaging the slots of the corner posts to form a pair of heater side walls, other rods mounted in the EMIL G. FERNHOLTZ. 

